Steinbrenner Hits Homer With Clemens Trade

This is really how George Steinbrenner came in, way back at the beginning, even before Reggie Jackson, grabbing Catfish Hunter in the ‘70s when Hunter was one of the best pitchers of his time. Now he gets Roger Clemens, one of the best of all time, in a baseball trade as exciting as anybody has ever made at the start of spring training.

On a rainy February day the color of cement in New York, after all the dreary news lately, some of it tragic news, it was suddenly baseball season. It was summer. There was talk of Clemens and the Yankees and baseball here and all over the country. On the day after pitchers and catchers reported to Legends Field in Tampa, the Yankees get Clemens, already a legend of his game because of his fastball and the way he has lasted, and a lasting nickname: The Rocket.

In the history of the Yankees, this is the most important name to come by trade since Babe Ruth. Another pretty good pitcher who started out in Boston. So out of nowhere it was a beautiful day for baseball in New York Thursday, for everybody except Mets fans. It now becomes even more interesting watching the Yankees try to do it again.

“There’s a definite pop you hear,” Mets manager Bobby Valentine said last year, talking about Clemens’ fastball. “And believe me, Roger’s pop is different from everybody else’s.”

Steinbrenner gets Clemens even though the Yankees don’t really need him, just because Clemens is too good to pass up. This deal was too sweet to pass up, even if it meant saying goodbye to David (Boomer) Wells, who helped make last season so perfect at Yankee Stadium.

As Steinbrenner nears the end of his run with the Yankees, he tries to go out in style, with one more front-page deal, one more Hall of Fame pitcher. He has been after Clemens for two years, and now he gets him, at $8 million a year when Randy Johnson is making $13 million in Arizona and Kevin Brown, who doesn’t even have half Clemens’ resume, is making $105 million over the next seven years with the Dodgers.

Even giving up Wells, one of the most reliable big-game pitchers of this time in baseball, this is a steal. This was bad for the rest of baseball, great for New York.

Yankee General Manager Brian Cashman said that when he realized he could get Clemens for Wells, backup second baseman Homer Bush and reliever Graeme Lloyd, “my knees buckled.”

This all started out with Clemens saying he wanted to leave Toronto because he wanted a championship ring before he retired. It happened about 20 minutes after Johnson got his money in Arizona, and made Clemens look like a phony. Whatever Clemens’ agents are saying now, they were telling anybody who would listen that their man wanted a contract extension, and a fat one at that, before he’d agree to any trade.

So it seemed that any team that wanted him would not just have to give up players, but free-agent money as well. Teams started backing away, blinded by the price even more than by the fastball. With spring training about to begin, Clemens was running out of options, and so were the Blue Jays.

Steinbrenner walked in, walked away with him. Now he reportedly has told Clemens’ guys that there will be no new contract, that Clemens gets only what he said he wanted all along, a chance to finally win a World Series. We’ll see about that.

For now we just see that Steinbrenner gets his man. He does not want the Yankees to just be the best team in baseball, he wants them to be the best in all of sports, and the greatest single attraction. A deal like this is terrific as long as your team can afford to make it. It is why everyone except Mayor Giuliani laughs when Steinbrenner cries that he needs a new stadium to properly compete. “I finally got you,” Steinbrenner said to Clemens on the telephone.

The Yankees won everything last year, but Steinbrenner didn’t think they drew enough people to the Stadium. People talked about how they were the Bulls without Michael Jordan. Steinbrenner shows up this season with a star like Clemens, who has won the last two Cy Young Awards and five in all, who is aging as a power pitcher the way Nolan Ryan once did. Who still has days when he strikes out the world.

Clemens looks bigger than other pitchers the way Mark McGwire does when you put him up against all the other sluggers. Now he is a Yankee, saying all the right things, talking about how lucky he was to get a second chance with the Yankees after turning down Steinbrenner and all his money two years ago to sign with the BlueJays.

“You don’t get this opportunity too many times,” Clemens said.

On Wednesday, this was the message high above Yankee Stadium, the most wonderful message on any billboard in New York: “Pitchers and catchers report today.” One more pitcher reports Saturday.